Jonas Arnby Alexander's feature debut "When Animals Dream" is among the seven films to compete in Semaine de la Critique, the Cannes Festival's sidebar for first and second features, as announced today by the series' artistic director Charles Tesson.
In 2010, two Danish films took home the Grand Prix main awards in Semaine de la Critique – Janus Metz's documentary "Armadillo" and, in the short film category, Daniel Joseph Borgman's "Berik".
Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen and Sonja Richter play the lead roles in "When Animals Dream", a story about a young girl, Marie, who lives in an isolated village on a small island on the west coast of Denmark. Marie's mother is seriously ill, suffering from an unknown disease, and Marie's father tries to make life as normal as possible for the small family. On the surface, everything seems fine, and yet Marie can't help feeling that her father is hiding something from her about her mother's illness.
Director Jonas Alexander Arnby graduated from the alternative film school Super16 and has directed music videos and short fiction. "When Animal Dream" is written by Rasmus Birch and produced by Caroline Schlüter Bingestam and Ditte Milsted for Alphaville Pictures Copenhagen with support from the Danish Film Institute.
International sales are handled by French sales agent Gaumont. Domestic release is set for this summer.
Already announced for this year's Cannes Festival is Kristian Levring's "The Salvation", participating in the Official Selection.
Cannes Festival 14-25 May
Semaine de la Critique 15-23 May
When Animals Dream
Marie is a beautiful and lonely 16-year-old who lives in an isolated village on a small island of the west coast of Denmark. Marie's mother is seriously ill, suffering from an unknown disease - on medication, mentally absent and tied to a wheelchair. Marie's father, Thor, runs the small grocery store and tries to make life as normal as possible for the small family.